Thursday, November 7, 2013

Late War 1500 Break Through

After the previous Sunday big game Lochy decided that his German Infantry company from a Market Garden list needed another game so he could think about it's potential use on the table. So we agreed to meet again for a 1500 point game.

After getting knocked around by those Heavy IS-2 tanks in the previous game I was looking at including a King Tiger or 2. After making a few lists during the week I settled on a Mechanized list you can see below.

I need to complete some of these Panzer Luchs. A little more painting to do.

After a laying out a table we randomly rolled Break Through. I have played this a few times before and my idea of how it goes down is this. Defender must high tail it to the Objective that is outside the initial deployment zone as soon as they can. Leave it too late and the attacker can just go and take it and achieve the 'Break Through'.
Me being attacker vs Infantry meant I was the Attacker.

Key Events.
The Big infantry platoon did not move towards the open Objective until turn 2 or 3.
Marders Double Timed in turn 1 behind the wheat fields towards the open Objective.
King Tigers stayed in place a few turns to take shots at the 88s with no results but suddenly beyond the 88s 3 training tanks came into view and with Tiger Ace skill of 3 shots each BLAMO! Wiped out in one turn of shooting.

King Tigers keep the 88 crews heads down as they send shell after shell down the road.This is bad news for the 3 Panzers that run the gauntlet behind the 88s as they fail to avoid the shots.

My Air Support managed to destroy an Artillery team which was a huge help. Artillery below 6 teams means no access to the nasty bonus options that gives them. After that the Air Support contributed very little. It did not arrive often at all.
The Recon 1iC found his Luch tank was totally disabled by a massive hit from an 88 (he failed to stormtroop out of it's sight) but, he managed to take over a nearby King Tiger. As a result he lost his Recce ability and the King Tiger lost its ROF 3 (we think that is how it is supposed to work).

The recce halftracks detected two SS teams armed with German Bazookas make a move towards them attempting to blast them. They disengaged and got away from view.

However later the same halftrack platoon was assaulted by two SS teams. Def fire...not enough...one gets blown up...one gets bailed...Halftrack passes test to counter attack. At this point of course I had the option to run away but as the Platoon was below half it would need a 4+ to stay in the game. I thought a 3+ to destroy a team was a better option so I rolled....not a 3+. Dang it! Counter Attack and half track platoon destroyed. Oh well.
The King Tigers moved away from the 88s and managed to MG blast and contribute to whittling down the SS platoon and take a couple of shots at a Pak 40.

The Pak 40 platoon waited until revealing themselves (Ambush) but ended up having to move to get better shots on me after I did some recce disengage with Luchs platoons. Between Marders and Aircraft they got reduced to one gun by game end.

To stay in the game the big infantry made it's way to the far objective and it was through the Stormtrooper
move that allowed their side to stay in the game.
However after some furious MG dice and more MG dice from attempted assaults the German infantry horde platoon had to leg it away as did the by now very small SS Infantry platoon.

CHAAAAARGE!The German Infantry practice tank assault but with no smoke to help them or bailed tanks the weight of MG is too much.

Even the Fanatical SS have a go at assaulting light tanks but are flattened by the weight of giant dice.

With nothing to contest the Objective the win went to my Recon force. With only 1 platoon lost I was surprised at the result.

After thoughts. We briefly had a discussion about how the Infantry could have made it harder for me. We both agreed that initial deployment with the Flak guns with a direct view of the far Objective would have helped a lot. Also the importance of table quarter selection. The Pak AT guns could have also made it hard for me with only two tanks capable of standing up to direct fire from them at any range. I didn't make any use of Eyes and Ears that I recall but then again I didn't need to. An enjoyable game as always. Thanks Lochy.